New Delhi, Aug. 28 -- THE HAGUE - The tribunal had said no just one day before he died.

Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb commander convicted of genocide for ordering the execution of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica in July 1995, died Thursday in a prison hospital at The Hague. He was 84. His lawyers had spent years seeking his transfer to Belgrade on medical grounds, citing strokes and deteriorating health. The UN court denied that request Wednesday. By Thursday afternoon, the tribunal confirmed his death.

For the families of Srebrenica's victims, who spent three decades watching him evade capture, then defy the court with outbursts during his own sentencing, his death does not resolve the wound. It closes only th...